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Against a backdrop of freezing rain, snow, and a biting wind from the waters of the Humber Estuary, alongside a determined Hull City side pushing hard for promotion, this had all the makings of a challenging evening’s task for the visitors.

"We might have scored more but Hull are a good team and it was a tough tie; I’m delighted with the performance," he said. "Hull City is very special to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of fans. The attitude of the players was superb."

The Chelsea manager holds this place close to his heart, given part of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His positive association continued with a commanding display from his squad, who ultimately strolled into the next round of the famous old competition.

Clinical Finishing Seals Comprehensive Win

Seventy-two hours after surrendering a two-goal advantage in the Premier League, there was a hint of fragility about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky cup clash. The capacity home crowd evidently sensed it too, but the London side handled the task with ease.

Rosenior rang the changes, enacting multiple of them to his starting lineup. The match could and maybe ought to have been decided earlier than it eventually was, with two Estêvão Willian and Liam Delap guilty of missing glorious opportunities to put their side in front in the first half.

However, fortunately for the away team, their Portuguese attacker was in a much more ruthless mood. He opened the deadlock with a marvellous long-range strike, which acted as the catalyst for Chelsea to assume command of the match. By full time, they had four, with Neto netting a trio of them for a superb hat-trick.

The Forward's Redemption and Impact

Hull displayed great fight all game, but the better chances always came to the visitors. The winger should have broken the scoring when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before unbelievably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's clearance which came back from the bar, and he started to celebrate thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's defenders had reacted to avert the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from that point onward, providing three key passes. The opening was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from outside the box. Shortly after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's set-piece went directly in under the keeper's legs.

Tie Sealed and Attention Shifts

Soon after Neto’s second goal, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap teed up his teammate to slide into an unguarded goal. The hat-trick hero then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the decisive ball for the attacker to coolly convert past a helpless goalkeeper.

At that point, the effort Hull had put in in the opening thirty minutes had been erased. Their priority must now return to securing a promotion to the top division under Sergej Jakirovic, who rested a number of first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"I think we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the Championship," he said. "Never surrender, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we should play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the end, and they nearly claimed a consolation when a substitute hit a post in injury time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another encouraging step forward for their recently-appointed manager at a place he knows very well.

FA Cup Omens Are Good

The result made for an ultimately routine night's performance, and the FA Cup-shaped signs are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous times in this competition in the last decade and on each occasion, they have progressed to reach the final. There is still work in that regard, but this was another significant positive for the Chelsea boss.